Notice the eagle’s talons. He never lets go once he’s locked something in his grasp.

“Go so loved….”

God‘s love for people is a wonderous thing. The Old Testament deal is Hesed. This is that steadfast love that God has for His people. He never forsakes them, never forgets them, and always keep His promises. It’s the truest form of love that is eternally present even when one may not like some one or be fond of what a particular person or group of people is doing at a specific time. Love is still there and never subsides or dissipates.

Sometimes it takes faith to recognize such love because it the truest form of love that isn’t always nice or even pretty. We, as petty human beings wish to relegate love to a feeling but it’s really more a verb. One’s actions demonstrate one’s love for one thing. That’s not to say that one is always nice, but one always cares and desires what is best for the loved one. Even more than that though, love is a state of being. It’s said that God is Love. That is to say that God’s state of being is Love. Humans don’t understand it. We don’t get how God could allow His Son to be sacrificed for our benefit. Did he somehow love Him less than He loves us. Certainly not! But that merely makes the sacrifice all the more poignant. Giving His Son up was what had to be done though, for us to truly love God back. His life, death resurrection, and ascension allow us to enter into that saving relationship through faith in Jesus. God loves us so much that he did what needed to be done.

The New Testament, and especially Paul, took an obscure Greek word for love, “agape”, and essentially gave it the Old Testament ideal of “hesed”. There are other more popular terms that could have been used like “eros”, but eros is a romantic love that doesn’t quite encompass how God loves. His is an all encompassing, never-ending kind of love whereas romantic love dissipates and fades over time. So, agape was given this Godly meaning by usage in the Bible. I’ve been told that it is used more in the Bible than all other written usages put together.